Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

How to finish that last minute assignment

the-girlwhowasonfire:

cjshark:

prettyflyforaredspy:

ruemex:

disgruntledota:

leetakeuchi:

I can not count the number of times this trick has saved my ass.

And people say Tumblr doesn’t teach you life skills…

this will come in handy one day

ATTENTION GRADUATING CLASS OF 2013: COLLEGE SURVIVAL 101

Reblogging for future reference..

(Source: gamerspirit, via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

vintar:

there’s a lot of people pushing back against “write what you know” as advice for aspiring authors and i would like to speak up in its defence for a moment because i just finished reading a mystery book where the murder weapon was a vicious fighting dog, and in the scene where it was finally revealed we found out that a) the person who had stolen it and was using it to kill people it had been keeping it secret from the police by locking it in his car boot, b) it was an irish wolfhound, c) once freed, it attacked the hardboiled detective across the yard instead of the gormless idiot who had been repeatedly stuffing it in a car boot, and d) its way of attacking the detective in this very dramatic finale was via mighty swipes of its sharp claws, which slashed through his skin like knives

i don’t think this author has seen a dog in his life. i think he might have confused them with lions? write what you know: if you’re writing an animal, be fairly confident that you could point to one in a small child’s pop-up book

(via primarybufferpanel)

marypsue:

Man, I want queer fairytales too, but what I really want is for them to follow traditional fairytale tropes and structures while they do it. I want rules of threes and true names and quest stories and impossible tasks and disguises and riddles, I want blood and death and happy endings. I want more stories in the shape of oral folk tales, but with queer people in. Modern reimaginings where ‘and the prince was really a princess’ is a solution to the problem of the narrative are great, but I’d like to see more where it’s an uncommented-upon fact that there are queer people in this fairy tale, but the tale has other, very traditional problems (the princess won’t laugh, the cow has gone dry, the bridegroom intends to murder and eat the bride) that they need to solve by being kind and clever and brave and a little bit rebellious, as well as whatever their identity may be.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

PTSD and the physical effects.

sciencefictionclitoris:

hollowedskin:

So, as I explained in this post on the basics of how early trauma affects us, abuse and neglect during our formative years add extras into our experience of PTSD and one of those is physical illness. (a reminder that ‘formative’ is in terms of brain development; so up until the age of 25)

One of the big reasons for this is hypervigilance and the limbic system.  How being constantly surrounded by an abusive environment makes you highly sensitive to sensory input (hypervigilance), and how this affects you physically.

Basically “why am I so fucking sick all the time and why doesn’t it seem to have a cause”
or
“what does it mean when they say that my PTSD is causing these physical symptoms”.

First you’ll have to bear with me while I explain some things about your brain and it’s parts, because otherwise this won’t make any sense.

Your amygdala is part of the limbic system that controls instinct and the panic response. It’s sometimes referred to as your “lizard brain”.
And because you don’t really need to know how the whole thing is rigged, I’m going to keep calling it that. (Like you can look it up if you want, i’m not going to stop you).
It’s the instinctive part and also where your core beleifs about the world are (called schemas; which is another topic).

This is the part of your brain that tries to keep you alive at any cost, where the ‘flight, fight, freeze or feign’ response lives.
 
Your amygdala develops very early, which is why babies can experience fear. But it develops before the conscious thinking part.
Much like an actual lizard, your lizard brain doesn’t ‘think’ or reason, it just watches and notes what is dangerous, and what has worked to save you and stores that information.
Because what your lizard brain’s main function is is to keep you alive in a crisis.

Don’t know what I’m talking about?
This is the part of your brain that has already slammed on the brakes before you decide to when you’re cut off in traffic, or that gives you that feeling that ‘this is dangerous’ when you can’t really figure out why, but later find out that WOW you were so right.
It is activated when it sees that you are in danger, and it is going to take too long for you to decide what your response will be.

Ok so now we know what it is, but how does this relate to PTSD or hypervigilance and how can this make me sick?

In an untraumatised brain, the limbic system (specifically the amigdala) will dump stress hormones into your brain and body when you are in extreme danger. One of these we already know is adrenaline, but the hormone that is most important here is a steroid called cortisol.

Cortisol basically cuts off all the regular limits your body sets so you don’t get injured, because when you’re in danger it doesn’t matter if you get injured so long as you survive.
This means you can run faster and longer, you’re stronger, your senses are sharper, you’re hyperaware of your surroundings and you don’t feel pain.

This is how mothers can lift cars off their babies in a crisis.
Or how come you don’t notice that you’ve broken your arm in a car accident until later.

Cortisol is great when your brain functions properly.

However; when you’ve been exposed to extreme and ongoing trauma, you become hypervigilant. You have to be constantly aware of every tiny change in facial expression, every sound, every change in tone or every slight movement.
You are always prepared for danger and always trying to pre-guess what and when is going to happen.
In an abusive environment, you have to do this to stay safe.

The thing is that when you’re constantly in this state of hypervigilance and hyperarousal (not sexual arousal but sensory; where you could hear a cricket fart next door), your limbic system is constantly wired up. And it’s constantly activating your FFFF (Fight, flight, freeze and feign) response, and constantly dumping your cortisol to keep you ready.

What ends up happening is that your limbic system eventually stops being able to turn OFF your cortisol tap. So instead of a dump, its a leak. Constantly dripping into your system as it’s created - even after you’ve escaped the abuse.

But cortisol is good isn’t it? It makes us stronger and faster and feel less pain?

Yes; but if it didn’t have a downside we wouldn’t only have it as an emergency plan.

Cortisol is a steroid and an immunosuppressant, in a dump it forces more blood sugar production and shuts down the digestive system. Long term it decreases cartilage and bone formation, affects glucose levels along with a whole swag of of other things.

People with this ‘cortisol leak’ can experience

• Lupus
  
• Fibromyalgia
  
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  
• Osteoarthritis
  
• decreased bone density leading to osteoporosis
  
• gastrointestinal problems (nausea, vomiting, bowel problems, difficulty digesting food or absorbing nutrients leading to nutritional deficiencies, IBD, constipation, and diarrhea)
  
• Asthma
  
• Eczema
  
• diabetes
  
• Sensory Processing Disorders (inc extreme sensitivity to light, noise, touch, sensory overload etc)
  
• Severe allergic reactions and other autoimmune disorders
  
• decreased immune response causing slower healing times and more infections
  
• heart disease
  
• memory issues; short term memory, and issues relating to the maintaining or accessing of memories
  
• and on top of all that are 300% more likely to self harm.
  

It also has the fun circular effect of… making you hypervigilant.

*sigh*.

So, much in the same way that anxiety stops us from doing things which then gives us more anxiety which means we can’t do even MORE things, over and over, the limbic system makes us hypervigilant which breaks the limbic system which then makes us even more hypervigilant.
And also sick.

PTSD is, as you’ve probably already realised, pretty good at cycling into awfulness like that.

But this is why the effects of traumatic abuse when our brains are forming is so profound, and so hard to heal. We quite literally have been given a form of brain damage, and our brains no longer function physically in the way they are designed.

Next up; I’ll be talking about the psychological effects of this; Maladaptive Schemas. (Which means that the things you learn as ‘’life truths’’ in an abusive environment while you’re developing can end up being warped, and that affects our ability to process information; including therapeutic information.

Till then, stay safe and know you’re not alone in this shit.
Hollow

Brain damage.
Jesus.

(via academicfeminist)

Dear Non-Muslim Allies,

trans-muslims:

Dear Non-Muslim Allies,

I am writing to you because it has gotten just that bad. I have found myself telling too many people about the advice given to me years ago by the late composer Herbert Brun, a German Jew who fled Germany at the age of 15: “be sure that your passport is in order.” It’s not enough to laugh at Donald Trump anymore. The rhetoric about Muslims has gotten so nasty, and is everywhere, on every channel, every newsfeed. It is clearly fueling daily events of targeted violence, vandalism, vigilante harassment, discrimination. I want you to know that it has gotten bad enough that my family and I talk about what to keep on hand if we need to leave quickly, and where we should go, maybe if the election goes the wrong way, or if folks get stirred up enough to be dangerous before the election. When things seem less scary, we talk about a five or a ten year plan to go somewhere where cops don’t carry guns and hate speech isn’t allowed on network television. And if you don’t already know this about me, I want you to know that I was born in this country. I have lived my whole life in this country. I have spent my entire adult life working to help the poor, the disabled and the dispossessed access the legal system in this country. And I want you to know that I am devoutly and proudly Muslim.

I am writing this in response to a non Muslim friend’s question about what she can do. Because there is much that can be done in solidarity:

If you see a Muslim or someone who might be identified as Muslim being harassed, stop, say something, intervene, call for help.

If you ride public transportation, sit next to the hijabi woman and say asalam ‘alaykum (That means ‘peace to you.’). Don’t worry about mispronouncing it; she won’t care. Just say “peace” if you like. She’ll smile; smile back. If you feel like it, start a conversation. If you don’t, sit there and make sure no one harasses her.

If you have a Muslim work colleague, check in. Tell them that the news is horrifying and you want them to know you’re there for them.

If you have neighbors who are Muslim, keep an eye out for them. If you’re walking your kids home from the bus stop, invite their kids to walk with you.

Talk to your kids. They’re picking up on the anti-Muslim message. Make sure they know how you feel and talk to them about what they can do when they see bullying or hear hate speech at school.

Call out hate speech when you hear it—if it incites hatred or violence against a specified group, call it out: in your living room, at work, with friends, in public. It is most important that you do this among folks who may not know a Muslim.

Set up a “learn about Islam” forum at your book club, school, congregation, dinner club. Call your state CAIR organization, interfaith group or local mosque and see if there is someone who has speaking experience and could come and answer questions about Islam and American Muslims for your group. They won’t be offended. They will want the opportunity to do something to dispel the nastiness.

Write Op Eds and articles saying how deplorable the anti-Muslim rhetoric has gotten and voice your support for Muslim Americans in whatever way you can.

Call your state and local representatives, let them know that you are concerned about hate speech against your Muslim friends and neighbors in politics and the media, that it is unacceptable and you want them to call it out whenever they hear it, on your behalf.

Out yourself as someone who won’t stand for Islamophobia, or will stand with Muslims—there is an awful lot of hate filling the airways, and there are an awful lot of people with access to the media and/or authority stirring the pot about Muslims. Please help fill that space with support instead. Post, write, use your profile picture or blog to voice your support.

Ask me anything. Really. Engage the Muslims in your life. Make sure you really feel comfortable standing for and with your Muslim friends, neighbors, coworkers.

I can tell you that in addition to the very real threat to their civil and human rights that Muslims are facing, we are dealing with a tremendous amount of anxiety. While we, many of us, rely on our faith to stay strong, we are human. This is not an easy time. What you do will mean everything to the Muslim Americans around you. Thank you for reading and bless you in your efforts. Share freely.

Sofia Ali-Khan, 7 December 2015

(via bonehandledknife)

Reading amazing fanfiction, then forgetting to bookmark it

weinsanedreamer:

markiplier-girl96:

castiel-knight-of-hell:

ifellinthefandom:

enter this into the Google search

site:<url of site where you read the fic> <a line you remember from the fic or character names plus a unique detail>

for example:

site:http://archiveofourown.org/ Todd Margo pedicure

Google will search only AO3 and tell you which pages contain the words Todd Margo and pedicure.

REBLOG TO SAVE A LIFE

Reblog to save yourself from torment 

(via yea-lets-do-this-shit)

HEADS UP SENIORS

bitterxcherry:

collegent:

I just found an amazing scholarship and college research website.  

It is called raise.me and it basically gives you mini scholarships for doing things like getting an A in a course, doing community service, or just taking an AP class in general. 

For example, you can receive up to $6,000 for a school because you completed over 200 hours of community service.

$30 per hour you work.  Guys, that is nearly triple minimum wage. 

Also, a few other schools offer mini scholarships for students who get B’s in a class or are taking a foreign language for more than 2 years. 

This is the scholarship website we’ve been looking for. 

Now you don’t have to spend dozens of nights writing scholarship essays when you can make money throughout your school career. 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE spread the word of this website. It is very helpful and will provide many people with the opportunities to graduate college!

And

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)

Anonymous asked: So I'm kind of low-key constantly on the look out for a new decent book to read (gay is a 10000% bonus) and you seem pretty enthusiastic about the Captive Prince (and all I know about it is that there's a gay couple)...d'you have a pitch for it? (Coherency not required)

lotstradamus:

D O  I  E V E R

okay, so you know how you read a book and you’re like ‘this is great, but imagine if x’ or ‘this would be ten times more intense if they x’ or even ‘I can’t wait to hit up Ao3 later because if anything is gonna have an AU where one of them is an exiled prince sold to the other as a slave it’s this’? THE ANSWER TO ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS IS CAPTIVE PRINCE. THEY’RE NOT EVEN QUESTIONS, BUT CAPTIVE PRINCE IS THE ANSWER. 

it’s all the things you look for in a fic: an intense slowburn between The Hero and The Ruler with the most toe-curling concept packed full of A+ romance tropes, literally breathtaking teases and epic twists and it’s written by that one fic writer who nails characterisation even when she’s writing an off-the-wall royalty AU and manages to turn what the plot summary said would be a ‘master/slave erotica’ into an intelligent, gripping, intensely romantic and not at all problematic thrill ride about secret identities, politics and courtly intrigue – EXCEPT IT’S NOT A FIC! IT’S A BOOK! YOU CAN BUY IT AND HOLD IN YOUR ACTUAL HUMAN HANDS!!!

but honestly. princes! sword fights! incredible world-building! power dynamics! secrets and lies! a not insubstantial amount of background exhibitionism! incredible build-up of the main relationship, the eventual consummation of which literally brought me to overwhelmed tears! read! captive! prince!

(other things of note: 1. not a gay couple! one is bisexual and the other, for my money, is grey-asexual. which just makes it even BETTER. LIKE IT WASN’T ALREADY THE MOST APPEALING THING ON THIS GOOD EARTH. 2. it neatly sidesteps all the 50 Shades-esque pitfalls you’re imagining it falling into. trust.*)